Christian Noyer : Opening address , “ Globalisation , Inflation and Monetary Policy ” Symposium

I am delighted to open this 5th international symposium of the Banque de France, which is an opportunity to bring together heads of central banks and international institutions, leading academics and directors of private banks, as well as representatives of industrialised and emerging countries, in order to address a topical issue of common interest and concern to us all. Today’s debate will be rich and intense. The first session, chaired by Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, will present the main concepts and stylised facts of globalisation and world inflation. The second session, chaired by Jean-Pierre Roth, President of the Swiss National Bank, will focus on the links between globalisation and the determinants of domestic inflation. The third session, which will take the form of a round table chaired by Nout Wellink, Governor of the Nederlandsche Bank, will examine the impact of financial globalisation on growth and asset prices. Lastly, the fourth session, chaired by Guillermo Ortiz, Governor of the Bank of Mexico, will assess the implications for the conduct of monetary policy. Jacob Frenkel has agreed to take on the difficult task of making the concluding remarks for this symposium. Jacob, like a number of others here today, epitomises the diversity of the origins of the participants in this symposium since he has served on the faculty of the University of Chicago, was the Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund and the former Governor of the Bank of Israel, and is now the Chairman of the Group of Thirty and Vice Chairman of American International Group (AIG).